Mission Faithwalk

                I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. (Job 19:25)   “I believed,  until… (name that catastrophe.)” But, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” We sometimes seem to think that a great crisis somehow changes our faith. But when Job lost his family, his wealth, and his health, he maintained his faith. What made him an exception? Was he an exception?   If we go back to Newton’s Second Law, and apply it psychologically, a person’s beliefs will continue in the same direction, at the same speed, and with the same intensity until or unless acted on by a larger force. A crisis should produce such a change. The problem is that we have only considered the force that pushes us off course, or, in the case of a direct hit, breaks us into many pieces. Another force acting on us is gravity: our own internal gravity that is the soul, and the external gravity of an even greater object, like the sun or God. Even if we are thrown off course d

                 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously . (II Corinthians  9:6)   This is one of those passages that sends me screaming. Oh, I love the idea of reaping generously, but giving generously? Don’t get me wrong. I’ve been known to give so generously that it physically harmed me. I’ve been known to give what wasn’t sought or without the person to whom I gave ever knowing that I (or anyone) did so. I’ve been known to give unwisely. But this is one of those areas where definitions and “Not Good Enough” often come into play. What does it mean to give generously ? And, keeping in mind that the passage doesn’t say “give” but “sow,” what is the difference between them? Again, I want to be able to put generously up on a table. What percentage of my income counts as generous? The answer is that no amount of my income counts as generous. It’s not about the amount, it’s about the attitude. To give ge

  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete. (II Corinthians 10:4-6)   In chapter 6 of Renovation of the Heart , Prof. Willard starts talking about warfare. He doesn’t describe it as such, but he describes ideas and images as being the problems, and information and thinking as being solutions. This brings to mind self-talk and the discovery of repetition creates new neural pathways in the brain. And that brings to mind Newton’s Second Law, that an object in motion continues in the same direction at the same speed unless acted on by another force. We cannot get rid of, change, or move bad ideas or images without the use of mental force. I’ve written befor

                    When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” (Matthew 8:1-4)   Close to 40 years ago, I read a Matthew Henry commentary on Matthew, and in the section that dealt with this passage, he taught what leprosy was like in Jesus’ time. So when Jesus reached out and touched this man, it suddenly meant a lot more to me, and it’s never quite let go. I’ve seen the portrayal from The Chosen , and the case depicted there was mild in the extreme, at least compared to my imagination. Yesterday, I watched a video by John Ortberg in which he talked about soul wounds

  4 Things to Practice while You are in Your Waiting Season   1.        Speak truth about yourself and God 2.        Love people for who they are and not who you wish they were 3.        Pray BIG prayers 4.        Read, believe, and obey God’s Word   The above isn’t Scripture, though you’ll find them consistent with Scripture. I’ve spent most of the afternoon trying to figure out what to write about from Scripture for this blog, and I’m not finding anything that inspires comment. The longer I wait, the worse the struggle becomes and the worse my thinking gets. How can I, as a Christian, not have so much to write about what I find in Scripture that there’s ever any lack? How can I, as a Christian, not find it next to impossible to keep myself from singing His praises. It’s not even that I’m going through hard times. There are no traumas, there just isn’t any inspiration. Proverbs 31 Ministries posted this little bit of wisdom. As I’ve waited all day for inspiration, and

            His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires . (I Peter 1:3-4)   These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised,   since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:39-40)   I Peter 1:3-4 is one of the passages Prof. Willard uses as evidence that we are supposed to live Kingdom lives now, not just after we die. And I agree with him. But, after listing Old Testament hero after Old Testament hero, the author of Hebrews tells us that while all the people in the Hall of Faith were commended for their faith, none of them received what they’d been promised, because God had plann

                 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,  filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11)   This passage goes nicely with the material I’m reading for Sunday School. Let’s suppose it’s a typical day, and you are offered some treat. It could be anything from a piece of candy to a trip around the world, but it is something that you don’t need and find attractive (but, for the sake of simplicity, it’s not something anyone could call evil, wrong, or immoral. It does no harm to anyone except, perhaps, yourself.) Food is an easy example. It’s only been 2 hours since your last meal, so you’re not hungry. It might not be especially healthy, but it would taste wonderful. How should you decide whether or not to accept the treat? How do you dec

                 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,   so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19)   But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” (Exodus  33:20) The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent. (Exodus 33:11) My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek. (Psalm 27:8)   if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,

            I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength.  (Ephesians 1:17-19 NIV)   I only made it about a third of the way through this passage yesterday. I didn’t finish with the note that the whole purpose of our receiving the Spirit of wisdom and revelation is to know Him better. But, moving on from there. Paul’s next request on behalf of the Ephesians (and us) was that the eyes of their/our hearts may be enlightened in order that we may know hope, riches, and power. The hope, riches, and power that Paul describes aren’t what we usually think. Often, I suspect our thoughts about these topics is

              I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength. (Ephesians 1:17-19 NIV)               I suspect I’ve written about this passage recently in connection with Battle Bible verses, but this morning’s walk included some prayer time about plans for this summer, and the three things that came to mind were hearing and trusting God and praying more effectively. That brought this passage to mind.             We are allowed to pray for the Spirit to be given to us. And what that Spirit provides is wisdom and revelation, so that we can know God better. We’re allowed to pray to know God better. We ar

                    For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:32-34)   Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)   Jesus taught a lot about “the kingdom.” The word is used 119 times in the gospels and 155 times in the New Testament, while grace is used four times in the gospels, and 114 times in the New Testament. On the other hand, love is used 75 times in the gospels and 261 times in the New Testament. Of those 261 times, John is responsible for

            When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. (Matthew 2:16)               Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.  “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:8-9)   From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem  and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely h

  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. (Matthew 28:6)             It’s Easter. We’re supposed to celebrate the single most important event in the history of the universe. Don’t get me wrong, I agree that it is the single most important event in the history of the  universe. I’m just not good at celebrating. And I think a lot of people have the same problem. I know pastors struggle with Christmas and Easter – and maybe other holidays. I mean, no matter how important the reason is for celebration, chances are good that there’s not much you can say about it that hasn’t been said ten thousand time in the last ten years.             For some people, the tradition and reputation are central to the celebration. They don’t mind saying “He is risen” or “He is risen indeed” repeatedly. It’s great news, after all! And it is great news. It’s not about us, or about how we feel. It’s about Him! He is risen! Well, yes, and He was risen yesterday, and

            Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. (Proverbs 3:5-7)             When I watched Dancing with The Stars years ago, one of the things I loved about the show was the transition made by at least some of the stars. For the first several dances, you could see them thinking their way through the dance. Step…step…step…pose like so. Step…step…take his/her hand…step. And when they showed the rehearsals, you saw some of the same things on the part of the professional dancers, as they coached, Step…step…step…pose like so, arm up. Step…step…take my hand, no the other hand…step. Pay attention to the beat.             After a number of weeks, the stars would come out on stage and the processing would be greatly diminished or gone. They would take the steps, take the hand, spin out until their partner’s grasp pull

                 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:23-24)             Falling short of the glory of God is irksome. It’s an impersonal, personal reaction. The first temptation was to be “like the Most High” and the fact that we can’t measure up aggravates us. Even those it doesn’t seem to bother may have lowered their standards because that’s less painful. “No one is perfect,” they proclaim, not because it’s true, but because they are superior to those to whom they proclaim it. It lets them off the hook.             The interesting thing is that we don’t compare our level of perfection with the ocean, or the stars. Few of us really want to emulate those. We may feel small, or powerless as we meditate on them, but we don’t tend to take the metaphor very far with them. That might be because we see ourselves in them in a limited way, if at all. Ultimately, we kn

  Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. (Luke 9:23-24) fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2) The reading for class on Sunday takes me back to something I read last fall, but I knew I’d be coming back to it. It has to do with how we go about actively becoming like Jesus. That’s supposed to be the goal, after all. And as noted yesterday, that means putting to death the self that stands in opposition. Jesus puts it bluntly for us in the first passage above. If we would be His disciple, we have to 1) deny ourselves, 2) take up our crosses daily, and 3) follow Him. The first key to doing this, according to Dallas Willard, is vision: an idea

  But he said to me, “My  grace   is   sufficient  for you, for my power  is  made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. (II Corinthians 12:9) His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly  life  through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory  and  goodness. (II Peter 1:3) Sunday, I got to sit in my beloved Sunday School class and listen to intelligent people struggle with “ death to self.” One of the points was that this is not a negative thing – “we must simply lose our lives – those ruined lives about which most people complain so much anyway.” (Dallas Willard.) So often, we think of death to self as death to the good parts of ourselves, but it’s death to what is holding us back from good or from best. As I listened, an idea formed. The number one, biggest way that my ego – my self – does me harm is the many-headed, many-shaped monster known to me as “Not Good E

                      You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)   This passage causes some cultural issues. As I read it, I think… police officers, fire fighters, soldiers, good Samaritans… there seem to be a lot of people who risk and lose their lives for someone, even someone who isn’t righteous. Statistics tell a different story. There are approximately                              1,030,760 EMS personnel                              906,037 full time police officers                              94,275 part time police officers                              1,400,000 active-duty military personnel                              152,100 lifeguards                              And 331,000 people liv

                Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.   To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.   The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more.   So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more.   But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. (Matthew 25:14-18) You know the rest of the story. How would you describe the king? The third servant does so this way: “Master, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.   So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.” (Matthew 25:24-25) I have to admit, there’s at least a little third servant in me. First, there are the comparisons